Summer is here! Finally! For me, I always think that summer starts when I buy my Hillside ticket. What's Hillside? Picture the Bonnarro Music Festival and divide it by 100. It's a small, amazing music festival near Guelph, Ontario. We've been going for years and when I got pregnant, I vowed that this particular tradition wouldn't change.
Last year, just before Will's first birthday I packed up the car and headed to Hillside...and more specifically to set up our campsite. Camping. With a one year old. Yes, I am insane. I wasn't ready to commit whole hog so Will did spend the Friday night with my cousins.
I had some trepidation about the whole thing...a. How would I fit my queen size double thick air mattress in my tent with a pack and play? (look I camp...but I like to be comfy)
b. How could I contain the kid while setting up said tent?
c. Bug bites! So many freaking rules around babies, bug spray and suntan lotion - how would I manage to remember all the rules while trying to have a good time?? Plus, babies & bug bites do not make for a fun, relaxing, and nap-happy weekend. I know from experience, a few bad bites, and unexpected allergic reactions, can ruin a weekend.
d. The ogling of the hippies. Look, for a single girl who loves her hippies - Hillside is like a smorgasbord of hot.
Anyway - apparently, like with many parenting adventures, I actually had little to worry about! I downsized to a single bed mat - but Will didn't sleep anyway so what difference did it make. My friend Clark showed up just in time to distract Will while I set up my tent. I followed all of the baby bug spray rules and took every preparation for the potential itch-fest - and, treated every itch with an antihistamine before it got too bad which meant the bugs didn't ruin a thing!! Unfortunately, neither did the sun - but it was a great time with great friends and, despite my stressing beforehand, having Will there just made it better...all was good. And the ogling? Funny how looking after a one year old will cut into your 'checking out the dudes' time.
Regardless - we had an awesome Saturday! We ate, swam, drank, napped (well Will did) and listened to some great music.
In our pre-kid days, the fun wouldn't end and we'd host all night campfires with multiple amateur musicians stopping by to jam. We'd eat 400 bags of chips and hit the hay when the sun was coming up.
But priorities changed and last year, we all ended up back at the campsite early - before the music ended! We swapped tales of the day while our kids slept (for a few hours anyway) in the tents surrounding us.
The next morning, I drove into town to get coffee and donuts (I own a tent, not an outdoor stove yet) and thought about the previous day.
I used to look at the little kids and their parents at Hillside and think - 'that will never be me' and I can admit it now, that thought made me sad. Oh Will - it's amazing how many things you've changed for me!
Who knows, maybe this year - you'll actually sleep in the tent and your mother might make her own coffee. And I hope you can keep the freaking bug-bite itching away again!!! All three would be miraculous...a girl can dream!
Before heading out on your next camping trip check out these great camping tips!
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I abhor camping but have had to endure it a few times with kids. There would be NOTHING worse than a camping kid covered in bug bites!
I also hate camping! To me it just feels like so much more work than it's worth...thankfully my girls are going camping with their Dad this weekend, and I'll be staying home alone :)
The only camping I liked was setting up the tent in the back yard for my daughter and her friends. I provided the food,bedding,flashlights,etc.
When my 2 kids were little we camped in a 18 foot trailer with a bathroom. It was heavenly! I liked being outdoors for the campfire experience but absolutely loved not sleeping on the ground in stormy or wet weather. The kids shared a bunk and loved to play up in their "castle" when they were getting ready for bed. Great times!
I haven't been camping in years, but I have lovely rose-tinted memories of campfires and chipmunks and jiffy pop from my childhood. We plan to go this summer with my step-son, we'll see how those memories hold up!
I love camping!! I go every single year with my husband and our kids. We used to tent (shudder) but now we use our tent trailer. I love everything about camping, from the campfires, to the fresh air, to swimming in the lake, to spending some good quality time together.
argh my last camping trip was when my son was 3 and he was running around turning on the water faucets and sticking his fingers in the electrical outlets - haven't been brave enough to go back yet
I love camping. We have camped with just tents, or an old tent trailer, or a trailer with a bathroom and appliances. The best is in the tents. It's more roughing like roughing it. The kids always liked to have their own tent. We always chose a spot near the washrooms for middle of the night emergencies :)
We haven't gone camping for a very long time. I have very fond memories of camping along the Oregon coast, all 5 of us. Which include my husband, myself two boys and a large dog. The dog was always so tired from frolicking on the beach, and was the first one wanting to get into the tent. It was so relaxing & peacefull. Just thinking about it makes me want to dig out the camping gear. It was always such a great sleep!
Too many bugs for me !
We love camping, we do it all year long, outdoors & indoors...the 1st time was when our boys were 6 months old & 2. 4 of us in a three man tent, it was so much fun. We even set up our tent in the basement on rainy weekends & camp out, or we put our sleeping bags in front of our electric fireplace:):):) The kids love it. Now the boys are older & they have a baby brother they can't wait to bring camping, so much fun:):):)
My parents always took us camping when we were small, so we have continued the tradition with our own kids. Our favourite place to go is Santa's Village in Bracebridge. Not exactly "roughing it", but it's a nice campground with the amusement park across the road. Beautiful scenery, nice facilities, swimming pool...what more could you ask for? Ok, the raccoons at 3 am were very noisy as they ransacked our cooking tent and garbage but that's my husband's fault for not putting the food and garbage away securely!
Our family loves camping, every summer we just can't wait to get out our "camping house" ,as our son calls it, out and head up the mountain! Our kids have so many great memory's already and they are still so young, I can't wait as the years pass to see what other memories we can make and what family additional family traditions will spring up from our time together as a bush family! Happy camping all!!
I love camping!! My husband, myself and our daughter go to Charleston Lake North of Gananoque. We use a tent. I love everything about camping, from fishing, swimming in the lake, campfires. We use the bug spray for kids and we are good to go!
We are a family divided! I love camping and my husband hates it! With 4 kids, I think if it as an inexpensive adventure that they will remember. My husband thinks of it as just a pain.
So we compromise and go only once a summer - sigh.
We have gone camping with the kids since they were 4 days old. Now with 4 we have graduated from tents (after the hurricane came up and it did nothing but lay 40mm of rain on us in tarp city) to a tent trailer. The older two children have their responsibilities of dishes after breakfast and lunch and at the end of our stay at any campground we have taught them to form a line a "police" the grounds, which is them looking on the ground for any garbage or things that may have been left behind. It teaches them that we take everything out with us and leave only our footprints behind.
I am looking forward to this summer for another great camping season.
I started camping when my son was 9 months old, continued through 2 more kids. I even camped with a one week old baby! I remember setting up potties at the camp site because the outhouse would be pretty traumatic while potty training. When my husband and I split up I continued camping with just me and the kids. Its a lot of hard work, tent camping, but finally my kids are at the age where I can sit and relax at the camp site while they run off making friends. I will be camping for many years to come.
Camping was always so much fun it was Family time to cook outdoors and play games and go for swims and we would even go and rent a party barge sometimes
Camping is just a Great Family Time and Awesome to do
We have camped for years. We started off in tents. Then when I was pregnant with our third we were camping at Sibbald Point and a hurricane came up the coast dumping rain on us like we were drowned rats. We had a tarp city going but it was not fun. the following year we purchased a tent trailer and have been "glamping" ever since. The kids love it and have their various jobs that they get to do. They help with the breakfast and lunch dishes and then at the end of our stay they "police the grounds", which means they walk our whole camp site and search for any garbage that may have been missed or toys or something that has been left behind.
The kids love it and we love it as well. I will see how it goes with a 3 mos. old this summer.
After a few bad experiences camping, my girls and I decided every year we will go "glamping" instead! Nice room @ the Sheraton with medis pedis and facials!
bug bites are relieved so fast with benadryl stick
I was born a camper. I can remember camping throughout the national parks with my brother and sisters and have kept the tradition going in my own family. Tents, tent trailers and campers - I've done it all. I look forward to the great outdoors and appreciate our great country in it's basic form.
Camping with kids is alot of work but when they look back and remember only the good stuff, it is all worth it!
Camping hasn't been what it should ever since I went to one as a kid...I remember them making you walk through a marsh thigh high full of slugs and other creepy crawlies, and I actually went to step, and came out of my rubber boot...never did get that back...and then they made you take a ride in an aluminum boat, and you had to be on your knees, and it was so cold outside, making the metal the same, my knees ached...what kid complains of achy knees?!? Ahhh, and falling in love, lol, and being turned down...boy, he'd be sorry now!!! LOL :D
Too many bugs for me !
My kids are all grown now with kids of their own. But we used to go camping in Kemptville Ontario. We had a tent trailor for my husband and I and the 2 girls, and the three boys slept in the tent. Well our youngest was a sleep walker, and the older boys were supposed to sleep in front of the tent door, so they could wake up if he was to venture out of the tent in the night. Well my youngest did sleep walk, but fortunately he came into the tent trailor, informed me mom I want to be on your team and lied down and went to sleep. My son played baseball so thats why he said that. I thank god he did not go the river and came into the trailor. The next night, our older daughter joined her older brothers in the tent, and the younger two stayed with us in the trailor. My oldest daughter also has allergic reactions to mosquito bites so we were sure to pack the benadryl. Was I ever glad we did. I never reacted so bad to bites before, my legs looked like ground beef when the mosquitos got through with me. I was able to get some relief thanks to the Benadryl. They still remember our camping trips, and as chewed up as I was, I would do it all over again. As long as I had my Benadryl.
I heard eucalyptus oil works at repelling bugs. And for bug bites - After Bite for Kids - all natural ingredients.
maybe benadryl can cure p.e.i. mosquito bites. if any of you have ever been out there, watch out. i swelled up like mad (seriously, slice a baseball into thirds and put the top third on your skin....ONE bit!) then had hives on and off for 2 months.
i do love camping and so do our girls. we have a monster tent that we can all snuggle in to hear the rain on the roof. i think the love is more for campfires and marshmallows but that's camping!
My favourite story about camping with kids is from the first time that we went camping with my oldest son. He made friends with absolutely every child in a 500' radius and kept disappearing only to be found sitting with a group of kids at another campsite eating marshmallows or coloring. I'm glad he had a great time, because for me and hubby it was nonstop stress! :)
I've tent camped all my life, and my both kids went camping at 9 months each. Did we go for a long time? No, but now they are 4 and 6 and we're spending three weeks in a row at Killbear Provincial Park in a tent trailer. Hey, it's great, an inexpensive vacation, the kids play outside all day long, they sleep the sleep of the living dead, they gain independence in a fairly safe setting. And if you go with another family or two, you have backups for you and the kids have fun playing together. Every time I mention to my kids friends' parents that we go camping, invariably someone will ask me if they can come next year too!
Camping and kids is a natural. Read the book "The Last Child in the Woods" and you will understand that children today have a nature deficit.
And yes, Benadryl is great, but hydrocortisone in a cream is even better. No sleepy side effects. Just tell your doctor that you want a small bottle of 5% for bug bites and she should be able to prescribe it for you before you go camping. Keep it in the fridge between camping trips and it'll last a few years.
My daughter came back from a hike with her group at Family Camp and she was second in line when someone disturbed the wasp nest. It was not a pretty sight!
My daughter came back from a hike when we were at Family camp and she had been second in line when someone disturbed a wasp nest. It was not a pretty sight!
Love love love camping! In a tent, or a trailer.. either is just as fun!
There is nothing like going fishing, or just sitting around with your friends and family..chatting, making smores and just having a great time!
The kicker of all this, is I had vowed since I was a teenager, never to go camping, as I was just too much of a "city-girl"... Now, being 30, I vow to go as much as possible! Hahah... :)
It is far too long a story to write here, but let's just say, when we first got married, my husband and his buddy took their new wives on a canoe camping trip. Both had been Cubs, Scouts and even guide leaders. It looked like rain. The guys said, "It's ok plus all our equipment is water resistant." Water resistant is not the same as water proof. It rained so hard the guys were paddling single handed as they bailed. The water beaded off the top of everything only to be soaked up at the bottom. Needless to say we didn't go camping again for awhile...
My kids aged 7 and 9 love camping. Every summer they camp in the backyard and they are planning a tent trip for us to take together this summer to East End Saskatchewan. My in laws have a cabin, with no running water, no electricity, and an outhouse, we all go and love to have the "camping inside a cabin" experience. Sadly my son itches like a maniac with bug bites and he gets covered in these huge welts so we always have Benadryl along for him.
Our favorite camping tip is to cook bacon and eggs in a brown paper bag over a fire. Line the bottom of a lunch size paper bag with bacon (overlap the pieces of bacon) and let it sit for a while, rip the top extra part of the bag off so that the bag is about 3 inches above the bacon, then crack the eggs(1 or 2 eggs) directly into the bag ontop of the bacon, place the bag on a grill, or over some coals. Let it cook a few minutes until the eggs are done and eat right out of the bag. It really works and saves on morning dishes. The bag does not burn because of the bacon fat. If you put it directly into the fire it would, so place on a grill if you have one with you. Thanks and happy camping everyone.
I am not a camper, my husband loves it. We went once to Tobermory with our 3 year old son, left the 1 year old at home with grandparents ;)
He did pretty good, but didn't want to sleep unless we were there with him.
Other than that we camp in our backyard. The kids love it and i have a clean bathroom and my own kitchen just yards away from us.
Love camping !.I started camping with kids when the oldest was 4 weeks old.We had a trailer then but have since switched to tenting.It's an easy , fun and very cheap way to get in touch with nature , relax and enjoy eachothers company.For me the key is still comfort so I invested in a thermarest self inflating mattress for each of us.We got a tent with a decent awning to cover the stroller ( the youngest is now 1 ) and provide a dry place to put on your flip flops when leaving the tent.I'm big on provincial parks.When there I like to walk around and scout out future sites so I can book just what our family wants.There are lot's of options like being next to a playground or beach and the kids like the naturalist programs and guided hikes.I take a ton of photos , and I have the most amazing wallpaper on my desktop of a beach sunset from a trip last weekend.Makes me feel good everytime I turn on the computer!.I used to bring a lot of extra toys for my kids but found we did not need the kitchen sink.We bring smaller stuff like a packable kite , bubbles , cards and yahtzee , those little snap glow sticks that blaze in neon colours for nights around the campfire , and couple freezer bags so they can collect the stuff they really want to play with like beach rocks and shells and our 1 big item was a blow up boat that folds up small.We used it at the beach then then brought it to the comfort station showers.The park was not busy so we brought it in the handicap shower and filled it with a little warm water to give the baby a bath !
I started camping the in 1956 the year I was born and I do not believe I have missed a summer. I started my camping with my children the year they were born , we tented and went away every weekend from June to the long weekend in Sept. We camped in NB, NS,Pei, Maine & new Hampshire.
Camping meant family meals, family walks and family campfires. We would often tent with my three sisters and their families so we became one big family.
My older children now camp on their own and we often tell stories of previous camping trips. Rain or shine we packed up the car Friday nite and away we would go and of course two weeks of vacation.
I loved camping with my hubby and our 1st born, but last year we took our new baby (he was just under 1 yrs) with us. Now we have a small trailer so we are not exactly roughing it, but last year was HELL. Jesse did not want to sleep in the playpen we brought with us so he had to sleep with me on one side of trailer while hubby and other son slept on the other side. He woke up at least 3 times each night and screamed until I fed him and well was just pretty cranky the whole time. We are trying again this year the last week of July -- here is hoping that he enjoys it more. Excellent provincial park though - Mikisew - great for those with young families. It is about an hour south of North Bay
I am a little embarrassed about this, but seeing that I do not drive, I got a friend to take my son who was about 7 at the time and I, to a small park called Confederation Beach, Hamilton. Her little girl was about the same age. I wanted my son to know about camping so we took the tent, a little grill and some snacks and drove to this campsite - about 5 minutes from where I live. Unfortunately this site is close to the Queen Elizabeth Highway and you could hear the cars. BUT, we were on the shores of Lake Ontario, so it kind of felt (to the kids anyway) that we were up north camping. It was sooo exciting for them, but not what I would have liked to have done. After that we would set up the tent in the back yard and Camp there as well. My son loved it, and actually so did I.
We camped a lot when the kids were young. One of our favorite places to camp was in the mountains. As you know there are numerous wild animals in the mountains. I woke up in the middle of the night and walked down the path to the bathrooms half asleep wishing I was at home. I looked down the path shining my flashlight and there was a big bear sitting right between me and the bathroom. Luckily the light scared him and he ran off. I ran to the bathroom and stayed there a fairly long time until I was sure I would not meet that bear again.
My 2 kids LOVE to camp.
Or at least, they THINK they do.
Everything usually goes just fine until it is time to go to sleep in the tent... it's 8:30 and mommy has to go to bed when they do cause they're scared!
So no relaxing chat around the campfire with the campers next door... the kids get to stay up an hour later usually, but mummy goes to bed early.
Then it's up to pee in the bushes a few times in the night (we're lucky if the pj's stay dry during these outings!).
And our black lab usually inches his way up between us under the sleeping bags to stay warm... but man is his nose cold!
Then it's up with the sun blazing thru the tent just after 6 am.
Nobody gets a good sleep on the cold rubbery air mattresses.
Thank goodness there's nothing like that fresh air to wake you up!
Somehow though we alweays come back for more.
It's just tradition!
I have many fond memories of camping at "beer bottle island" at my cottage in my teens. I don't think I'll be taking my girls there any time soon. For now, I think our backyard is adventurous enough for my three year old. She's looking forward to sleeping in a tent with her daddy this summer. I'll supply the hot chocolate and s'mores from the kitchen.
This year we took our first child Lily camping for the second time on May long weekend. The first time she was too small to get around, but at 17 months old, she got around everywhere this time! It was amazing to watch her and see everything through her eyes...it all looks so different then it has to me ever it seems, and I've been camping for more than 30 years now! She had no interest in sitting around the fire much when there was mud to play in, lots of loud trucks, quads and other off road vehicles to wave at down the road and plenty of animals around to try and catch. I got to share with her her first ever hot chocolate, roasted marshmallow and Daddy took her on her very first (very slow!) quad ride...she had the biggest smile ever and waved to me the whole time! She even slept really well in the tent all snuggled in between mommy and daddy :) Looking forward to taking her out again this weekend...and this time I'll be bringing some of this new Benadryl product everyone is raving about! We're already completely covered in mosquito bites from being in the yard all week long....we want to relax this weekend!